Hey folks,

I've read on here a few times in a few different forums that folks are replacing "everything rubber" when overhauling their fiat. Being fairly new to the car resto world, can someone give me a basic breakdown of what they think "everything rubber" means? I've got a bunch of stuff going into my '82 fiat spider pretty soon, but I want to make sure I'm getting the typical replacement things covered. For a little background, the car has about 50,000 original miles (I believe) and sat for the last two years basically before I bought it. Thanks in advance for any input.

Andrew

I've been working on this in recent years. 35 year old rubber can't be a good thing. My most recent undertaking was the fuel lines, pressure and return as well as vapor. Fuel filler hose was likely original too, Auto Ricambi now sells ethanol resistant rubber. While i was at it i changed any questionable hard line, mainly the the twin tubings over the rear axle. This ethanol business is really bad for our old-style fuel systems, it creates rust in our lines, tanks and carbs and degrades the older rubber lines, especially when your car is a Sunday car and fillups are far and few between.. If possible research a gas station that is ethanol free and stick to that one.
Back on track, often overlooked are heater hoses and choke coolant hose on carb setups., rad hoses, timing belt, fan belt, guibo, driveshaft bearing.
Control arm bushings can get soft and begin to tear. In extreme cases that can cause the control arm to break and cave in your wheel/ perhaps crack your crossmember if you're unlucky. That's on my to do list next year. Yuucck!
More obvious items are brake lines, master cylinder lines and obviously tires.
The list is exhaustive, make sure your car is a keeper before you undertake all this.

Thanks a lot for your writeup. The car so far is a keeper. Like most of us here, i was prepared to do some repairs typical repairs when i got the car. Ive got most of the things on your list waiting to be installed. The guibo and bearing for the driveshaft is next. Brakes lines in the rear. Thanks for the reply.

Don't forget the tires.

A little used 10 year old tire may look like new but really is a zippered blowout or tread separation waiting to happen. Edmund's and many safety organizations recommend that you toss tires after 5 years from date of manufacture regardless of how good they look. Edmund's however takes it a step further and recommends that you do not trust a used tire period so when you purchase a used car the tires should be tossed regardless of age or apparent condition.

You can often find the year of manufacture somewhere on the tire.

I'm in the same process and it has been an eye opener - what looks solid at first glance is usually brittle and cracks when moved around too much. My fuel lines were the first to be replaced - now it's the brake lines and radiator hoses. It's a bit daunting, but hey - peace of mind!

My eye-opener was when i was cleaning up the floors in preparation for Por15 i was moving around the metal fuel line not seeing what was going on behind the rubber grommet underneath the car. The playing around folded a rubber fuel line which in turn decided to bust open overnight while the car was sitting in the garage. Nobody was staying in the house at the time (thank God, it took days to unstink it) but low and behold when i walked in the next morning, the sight wasn't pretty. The line was still leaking, indicating that the leak started not long before i arrived.
I've been working on replacing anything and everything rubber ever since.
Never again!

speaking of gas, here is a great link

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... &sk=t&sd=a

don't forget the gas filler hose.